Hearts Within
by LockDown
Summary: A spinoff of my own Within series. The tale of Ashitaka and San after all of the events that only Ashitaka knows will happen. Can he change the future? Advised; read my other works starting with Demon Within.
1. Hearts Within

Chapter 1: Recollecting the future

I DON'T OWN SO DON'T SUE!

Barely a week had passed and things were as if nothing had ever happened. And yet so many unanswered questions were never asked of him. Where had he gone and what had happened to him? No one ever asked nor did anyone have the courage. Too much respected from the older residents had apparently been rubbed down on the new folk. Or perhaps they had just heard so much about what he had done that they all left him and San along.

But that wasn't what worried him. It was San herself that made him uneasy. Her presence was intoxicating enough to make him unsure of himself but this was a different sort of uneasy. She hadn't asked questions and this bothered him. This bothered him greatly for he had questions of his own. How had he gotten to that bed? He now knew he had walked into the furnace of Iron Town and had come out of it. But then he didn't know what happened. But perhaps that explained some of the uneasiness of the townspeople. 

San also seemed to be uneasy around him. Sure they had embraced on the bed a week back but the unasked questions had gotten to them both. 

It was now like when they had first met; she was quiet and timid in bed at best. She had cried and viciously hugged him when she was sure it was him but now she would lay with her back to him to sleep. He had given her a kiss the first night but she had not responded in a favorable way. She had blushed slightly and gently drew herself away from him. Perhaps she just needed to get used to him being there and all these "human things" as she had said so long ago for him; but just a year for her.

A year was all he had been gone but it had changed San in a way. She acted more like the Mononoke he had come to love when he was cursed, when he had come to the forest. She still spent her time with him but it was different from when they had spent time together. No hugs and kisses and licking or biting. They just stayed close to each other.

'I have to find out why?' He thought. He had to find several things out now that his life was sort of stable. He had to know what had happened a week ago, why the people were so uneasy, and most of all how much San had changed. 

Hello, LockDown here. For those of you who know me, I decided to write this because there was so much in my Within series that is strange at best. Several things I will resolve in the story but I have several things to state hear because no one has mentioned or spotted them.

Time travel. Ashitaka has gone back in time but now he knows things he's not suppose to and he know the future. I just want to point this out.

Now the one thing that no one has gotten was my screw up with the crossover. So here it goes:

Ashitaka lives in an era when they still have samurai; e.i. Lord Mori. This puts the era in the Sengoku era or the Country at War era. The Mori lands are in the south of Japan where there are many iron sand deposits. So far so good. Let us think now. We know from the reference in the movie to a Lord Mori it has to be set some time during the Sengoku which was at it's height from 1530 to 1612 when it ended. This gives us a period of roughly 100 years. Now to the guns. The Portuguese made land fall in the province of Hizen in the winter of 1542 bring with them guns. So the period is now moved to 1542 to 1612, which is still a span of 70 years. Now take any given date in that span and add the 600 years as referred to Power Within. The crossover of Oh! My Goddess places the setting in the 20th century. The only problem is that Ashitaka should be coming out between 2142 at the earliest and 2212 at the latest. WHOPS!

Well, same rule as always. 1 review and the next one will come out. I am writing it as you are typing that review. Rating will go up with next up date. Look in the R area from now on.


	2. His Demons

Chapter 2: His demons

**_"If you know your enemy and know yourself, you will not be imperiled by a hundred battles. If you do not know the others but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one. If you do not know the enemy and do not know yourselves you will be in danger in every battle."_**

_— Sun Tzu, The Art of War_

Ashitaka knew this and he had a long way to go. He knew his enemy; it was himself but he didn't know himself. Therefore he also didn't know his enemy and if he was to find peace with himself he had to find some things out. 

What had happened a week back was high on his list. And did he still have his powers? He hadn't tried any of his powers out since he had gotten back out of concern of freaking people out, mainly San.

Night had come at last and he slowly got out of the bed. Naturally San had her back to him and was sound asleep. Quietly he slipped out the door and was soon under the cover of the trees.

The forest always made him feel easier, even in his youth. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The smells of the forest flooded over him, smells that he had forgotten in his long absence. 

He opened his eyes and looked around. His wondering had brought him to the Forest Spirits Lake. He was standing on the edge were San had fed him, was that really only a year ago? To San yes, to him no. San that single thought brought his mind back on track. He had come here for a reason and he had questions to answer.

Ashitaka slowly walked up to a tree and extended his right hand. He made a lifting motion and slowly the tree started to move skywards. It's roots groaned in protest but in the end it was torn clean out of the earth. It came back to the earth with a loud thundering crash as Ashitaka let it go. He smiled; 'Time to practice.' More trees fell that night making loud noises. Fortunately the sounds echoed off the mountains making the people of Iron Town it was only thunder from a storm in the mountains. 

San awoke with a start. Thunder echoed off the mountains and had disturbed her sleep. She shifted and tossed slightly, she was uncomfortable but she didn't want to wake Ashitaka. Finally she turned over in her quest to find a comfortable position and she gasped at what she saw. Or rather what she didn't see. Ashitaka's side of the bed was empty and when San put her hand on to the bed she felt cold meaning he had been gone a while now.

This made her worry. 'Has he felt me? No he couldn't have… But where did he go? Why?' To the last one San gasped because she knew the answer. Toki had once told her that humans needed physical contact to show that they loved and cared about each other.

Hugging, cuddling, nipping, kissing… the list went one but San's thoughts stayed on the last one; kissing. Ashitaka had kissed her once during the week but she hadn't responded at all. She had just stood there and let Ashitaka do his thing. It wasn't that she didn't like the kiss it was just she was unsure about herself and mostly Ashitaka. She knew that she was different but he had changed greatly. Was he still the same man she had fallen in love?

But he pulled back quickly and had never touched her again. Now that she thought of it they hadn't touched in anyway over the last week, not even accidentally. 'Was this contact really that important to humans? If Toki had said so it must be true.' Toki had also told her about men that left their wives because of a lack of this contact. 'Was that what had made him leave? Was I not fulfilling his need so he had left to be with someone else?'

A hot tear slowly weaved its way down her cheek. How could she be so stupid? How could something so simple wreck her relationship with Ashitaka? Well she wasn't going to let it go unnoticed. She was the Mononoke after all and now she was on the hunt. Her prey was Ashitaka; her would be mate and whoever it was that had him now. She would get him back and make whoever it was pay dearly.

San sat up and tucked her knees against her chest and thought. She thought of every conversation she had had with Toki and was trying to remember any and everything she could that might help her with what she had planned.


	3. Her Demons

Chapter 3: Her Demons

The night passed very slowly for San. The thundering kept going and her thoughts of how to sway Ashitaka back to her plagued her mind. At first her thoughts were clear but slowly she began to wonder off. Soon she wasn't thinking of the present situation. Instead she was idly staring at her pendant the Ashitaka had given her long ago. She thought of the times they had together and of the times even before he had come into her life. She missed the old ways. She had been brought up to kill humans but now she lived with them in a very uneasy peace. 

'How would mother think about this?' she wondered. And she couldn't really answer that question. San could only remember back to just prior to the major fighting between the forest and Iron Town. It had been raging for a few years before Moro died. Before Ashitaka ended it all. Her memories of the forest were mostly of fleeing until she was old enough and strong enough to fight for her mother. Very few memories that she had were happy and most of those were with Ashitaka during the short time they had spent together.

But now this had happened but San wasn't willing just to let go. Before fighting to save the forest and please Moro had been the driving force in her life. Now Ashitaka was. But he had changed so much in his absence that she wasn't sure who he was any more. That was why she kept her distance from him. She wanted to find out what he had become without asking questions. Questions that she feared might make him leave again and she didn't think she could handle his absence again.

The past year had been slow and almost painful for her. Her days were dreary for the most part as she stayed in the forest with her brothers hunting and sleeping. The cycle continued mostly except when San would make occasional trip into town to see Toki. But now that he was back San felt so much happier. Just being in his presence at night allowed her to sleep peacefully, something she hadn't done in a long time. 

But being in bed with him was also very hard. She longed to have the old days back when they would cuddle together at night and share the occasional kiss, lick or soft bite. Now they just lay there with their backs to each other but San was afraid of Ashitaka as well. Afraid of what he had become and if his feelings had changed.

But if something that he needed and that she longed for could solve the problem then she would gladly give herself to him despite all her fears. But she knew nothing about how humans did these sorts of things and only a vague idea as to how the animals in the forest did it. 

That made her think back to how Ashitaka had painstakingly made their physical relationship go so slowly way back when. He had done it for her sake…  

Deeply consumed in her thoughts San did not notice the distance thundering sounds had stopped not the sun slowly creeping up over the mountains.

Ashitaka finally stopped. Around him was a gaping whole in the forest canopy as the ground showed the remains of trees that were scattered. Several were smoldering as he had struck with such force they had caught ablaze. Several more trees were in chunks floating in the water of the lake and yet Ashitaka smiled. He was hot and sweaty and tired but he was happy for it because these were things he hadn't felt in over 600 years. And he was happy that he had retained his powers though he had wondered briefly if he had lost them for until last night he hadn't tried to use any of them out of concern for the villagers. 

And his powers answered some questions. They explained how he had gotten from the furnace to the bed. He had punched a hole through the side of one and had stumbled out before he had lost consciousness. From there the metal had run off him and his horribly burned body had healed itself all in the view of the working shift at the time. That would explain why the villagers were taking extra pains to avoid him and not to talk to him for fear he was something else. 

Toki acted like nothing had changed and had told him those old rumors about him and his powers that he had used a year back had resurfaced and now all the new people were afraid of him. Some of the older folks who knew him were uneasy because of the rumors but thought that he was still the same since he didn't display anything unusual during his work in the day. Toki had also asked him why he didn't display his power and he had answered truthfully, he didn't know if he still had them. Disregarding that Toki asked him about his travels and he told her all about them because he knew she would never repeat them to anyone. And who would believe her if she did? His travels as she put them were very far fetched by any standards.

But now that he had confirmed his powers he had to think of a way to slowly break it to San. The rest of the village would just have to take it or leave it but he had to break it softly to San so that she understood and would stop pushing him away. He knew that she love him but he also knew that she was afraid of him at the same time. That was why he had to tell her softly in order not to scare her away.

Ashitaka stood there in his clearing that he had made and laughed. The thought of his San, the Princess Mononoke afraid of anything was laughable and yet she was keeping her distance from him out of cold fear. He would have to warm her up but how? Ashitaka gave a wave and started to walk back to the town. Behind him the trees were all there in one piece and there was no evidence of what had transpired in the little clearing.


	4. So Close

Chapter 4: So Close

The forest was alive with the noises of the animals waking up. Ashitaka paused to take in the sounds before moving on a slow pace. The sun was well over the mountain ridges and he was beginning to get hunger but that did not make him hurry along. He wanted to take the time to see the forest as last night he had gone crashing through the forest to get to his "testing grounds."

More time passed before he came to the tree line. He paused again to take in the view. Around the lake were a few rice fields that were fed by the lake. Several villagers were already in the field and a few waved at him. Ashitaka waved back and slowly made his way down the hillside towards the lake. On the far side of the lake was the town and just beyond the town was the shaft mine that supplied the town with its iron ore. From that ore the town melted it into iron bars that it sold and had become rather well off from the iron sales. It was those same sales that made the area valuable and several local warlords had tried to invade the area. But Lady Eboshi was a smart lady and had used the wealth of the town to fortify it and buy guns and powder to defend the town. Ashitaka could even remember being there during one such attack on the town and it had not fallen to the attacking army. 

Ashitaka came to the bank and continued to walk towards the town. When he could no longer touch the bottom he swam across the lake. 

San sat in her bed staring out a window. She had dressed a long time ago but was now sitting in her watching the sun rise slowly over the mountains as the day wore on. She had been waiting to confront Ashitaka when he came back but as the sun raised higher over the mountains her thoughts of confrontation turned to thoughts of concern.

'What if he was hurt?' or worse yet 'What if he doesn't come back?' Fear flooded through her at the thought. Before she could bear with his absence because there was nothing she could do about it and she knew it. Now San didn't think she could bear it knowing he was here but not hers. San just sat on the bed and let her thoughts run wild, as she got more and more frightened that he would never show up.

Ashitaka came up the bank, dripping wet. He felt very tired at this point but his mind was preoccupied by 2 things; how to tell the villagers and more importantly how to tell San. The villagers were easy enough, have Toki make the announcement and then do a display. Hopefully they wouldn't panic or worship him like a god or something. But he had to break it to San first.

Slowly he walked through the town towards the hut that he and San shared completely dry. He had subconsciously dried himself and he attracted more then just a few looks but he was too wrapped up in thoughts to notice. 

He walked into the hut and stopped in his tracks. San was standing next to the table in the middle of the room and looking at him. He had been with her a week but he still couldn't get over how much she had changed physically. She had gotten slightly tall and her figure was more defined. San had let her hair grow to the middle of her back and now it was partly down her front in a cascade that led down to her chest.

San couldn't help but blush slightly though she was crying. She knew Ashitaka was still trying to get over her "beauty" as he had called it so he was oblivious to her tears for once. She was torn between throwing herself at him and throwing her hand at him. While she stood there she also took the time to look at Ashitaka. He had grown tall as well and his muscles were more evident. Wherever he had been had made him work out thought San wished he had done that her with her.

Tears still streaming down San made her decision. San didn't want to hurt him and make him go away again. She ran up to him and threw her arms around him while burying her wet face into his chest. 

Ashitaka stood there a moment. San had just hugged him and was crying against his chest. Ashitaka felt kind of guilty that he had made her worry and she had every right to be. No note and he had just left. But what amazed him the most was that it was San who had hugged him first. Slowly he wrapped his around her waist and gently tried to stop her crying.


End file.
